Temple connection doomed selection

The Lowell Sun

Updated:
01/14/2013 09:37:49 AM EST

ONE OF the strongest supporters of City Manager Bernie Lynch's failed attempt to place Samkhann Khoeun on the Lowell Housing Authority board was the man he would have overseen as a board member, LHA Executive Director Gary Wallace.

Khoeun said Wallace late last year urged Khoeun to seek the board post held by Walter "Buddy" Flynn, whose term expired Dec. 31.

Khoeun said Wallace wanted a member who could help the LHA better support the city's large Cambodian population.

"He felt passionate I would do a good job on the board and help the agency assist an underserved population," Khoeun said.

Khoeun said he submitted his resume to Lynch and set up an interview with the manager. Khoeun also said the LHA told him it would be recommending him to Lynch.

One LHA staffer who reached out to Khoeun was Tha Chhan, the agency's director of leased housing programs, including the Section 8 program.

Khoeun and Chhan met in Chicago after both fled Cambodia. Khoeun was the best man at Chhan's wedding in the Windy City.

Asked on Wednesday about the City Council's 8-1 vote to ask Lynch to reconsider the Khoeun appointment, Wallace said he was confident the manager would select someone who would help the LHA.

Wallace also said it would be "bittersweet" to lose Flynn, a board member for 10 years who remains in the post for now.

COUNCILOR VESNA Nuon tried to distance himself from the Khoeun vote.

Advertisement

During Tuesday's meeting, Nuon commended Lynch for bringing forward a diverse choice and suggested a delay of the vote so councilors could learn more about the objections to Khoeun's selection from members of the Pawtucketville Citizens Council.

The PCC had emailed councilors and Lynch about their concerns regarding Khoeun's work with the controversial Buddhist temple project that has racked up a myriad of building and wetlands violations.

Nuon said more information about the extent of Khoeun's involvement with the project may have helped sway other councilors, although he acknowledged to The Column the opposition was already pretty stiff.

Contacted by a reporter on Thursday, Nuon did not wait to be asked if he was behind the Khoeun selection.

"I did not make the suggestion," Nuon said. "Like most councilors, I was surprised to see his name."

Nuon said if Lynch had asked him about the appointment before the manager made it, he would have told him to consider Khoeun's involvement with the temple project before putting Khoeun's name forward.

"There were concerns that could not be ignored," Nuon said.

Khoeun paints a much different picture.

Khoeun said soon after his proposed appointment was announced two Fridays ago, the first congratulatory call he received was from Nuon.

Khoeun said he has been friendly with Nuon for a long time, and Nuon was one of the people who convinced Khoeun to move from Chicago to Lowell in 1995 to lead the Cambodian Mutual Assistance Association.

Nuon has also attended many events the Community of Khmer Buddhist Monks have held to support the building of a $10-million temple, school and community center, said Khoeun.

LYNCH SAID last week he did not consult councilors before he put forward Khoeun's name. The manager also told The Column he did not vet Khoeun's appointment, which he probably regrets.

Councilor Ed Kennedy, who made the motion for Lynch to reconsider the appointment, said the manager would be wise to consult councilors in the future.

"The manager needs to come back with another name and learn it is not a bad idea to poll the council if he is thinking about bringing forward a controversial person," said Kennedy.

But Nuon said he does not expect the manager to reach out to councilors about his appointments.

"He does not have to do that because the choices are at his discretion," Nuon said.

Councilor Bill Martin said Lynch will be criticized either way. Martin also said if the manager only put forward candidates he knows will get approved, the significance of council confirmation would be gone.

Lynch said many councilors reached out to him before Tuesday night. They mostly asked questions about why Khoeun was selected, he said. A few councilors told him they didn't think they could support Khoeun. Some also raised the concerns they had received about Khoeun, said Lynch.

None of the councilors told Lynch they would vote in favor.

Asked why he still put Khoeun forward, Lynch did not respond. In a radio appearance, he did not rule out putting Khoeun forward again.

THE OTHER appointment on Tuesday, to confirm Cliff Krieger for the License Commission, also had its share of heat. Kennedy said he was worried about a blogger finding out about a potential candidate when the information was supposed to be kept private.

Kennedy did not name names, but wondered how news leaked out when only the candidate, the candidate's spouse and the manager knew. Lynch said he did not tell anyone.

The Column has learned that the blogger was Jack Mitchell of Left in Lowell, and the candidate was longtime Centralville neighorhood activist Ann Marie Page.

Mitchell did not disclose who told him of Page's candidacy, but said it was not the city manager or a city employee.

Mitchell called Page, and she would not be a good fit for the License Commission because she would have zero tolerance for bad behavior from bars, according to Page.

Mitchell says he meant no ill will.

"That specific call was intended from the view of a concerned friend, not a curious blogger," Mitchell wrote in a statement to The Column.

THURSDAY'S "SURPRISE" announcement by Middlesex District Attorney Gerry Leone that he will not seek re-election at the end of his term in 2014 is anything but.

Rumors and speculation have hovered around the career prosecutor for months.

The most talked-about scenario had Leone stepping aside and clearing the way for Middlesex Sheriff Peter Koutoujian, a former Waltham state legislator who, by the way, was a DA's candidate in 2006 until outgoing DA Martha Coakley endorsed Leone. Koutoujian also did a stint as an assistant district attorney in Middlesex County.

In remarks to his staff Thursday night, Leone said: "I am not running for another elective office, and in fact, I intend to leave government service when I leave this office. I do not now know what I will do when I leave. But, I do know that anyone who is interested in competing to succeed me needs time to compete. I want that field of potential successors to be as rich and deep as the job deserves. And, therefore, I am expressing my intentions publicly now."

A former ADA for nine years in Suffolk and Middlesex counties, Leone became chief of the attorney general's criminal bureau in 1999, then worked in anti-terrorism for the U.S. Attorney's office from 2001 to 2005 before doing private security work for Vance/Garda and then running successfully for Middlesex DA in 2006.

Leone relishes his well-earned reputation as a prosecutor's prosecutor. His resume is full of high-profile convictions, among them former Deputy Treasurer Robert Foley, "shoe bomber" Richard Reid, and au pair Louise Woodward.

ONE JOB mentioned with Leone in the same sentence is the athletic director's job at Penn State, which could only benefit from someone as squeaky clean as the former Harvard football player.

Last September, when the Penn State possibility was first reported by Sun alum and Globe political reporter Glen Johnson, Leone said: "I've been in and around athletics, sports, and, particularly, football for a long time. I think if you combined that with my professional and personal skills, I don't think there's any reason I couldn't run a large-scale athletic department," said Leone.

"There was conversation involving me early, but I've never been contacted by the university," Leone added. He pegged the talk to UMass Lowell Chancellor Marty Meehan, a friend and former congressman.

Meehan suggested to associates in Boston that Leone's legal and management background, as well as experience prosecuting sexual-abuse cases, might help Penn State rehabilitate its image following its Jerry Sandusky child sex-abuse scandal.

Besides playing at Harvard, Leone is the son of the former longtime athletic director and high school football coach in Franklin. His father-in-law, Jack Bicknell, coached at Boston College and on the European pro circuit, and two brothers-in-law are NFL assistant coaches.

No word on whether Leone will resume one of his other passions, refereeing at the Lowell Golden Gloves.

MURDERS, RAPISTS and abusers walk through the doors of Lowell District Court and no one blinks an eye. But the courthouse was atwitter when a "celebrity" was among them retired U.S. Rep. Barney Frank.

Frank sat quietly in second session on Thursday. When asked by The Sun why he was there, Frank, who has a reputation of being gruff with the press, nicely responded that he was there for "moral support" for a friend seeking a restraining order.

IS THE leader of the free world backing Roland Van Liew's candidacy for Chelmsford selectman? Apparently so, if you believe a e-newsletter from Van Liew on Thursday, a day after he took out nomination papers in Town Hall -- which included a Photoshopped image of President Obama smiling at a TV image of Van Liew campaigning.

The newsletter was titled "Obama Supports Van Liew For Selectman." No word if Obama will be on the stump in Chelmsford this spring.

Either way, count Chelmsford Selectmen Chairman Jon Kurland as someone not in Van Liew's corner. Van Liew, in comments to The Sun and on his campaign website, slammed selectmen, saying the board needed "an honest voice," that "no one on that board speaks for the people," and that "we don't have selectmen who really care."

Van Liew led a charge -- unsuccessfully -- to recall four selectmen in 2011: George Dixon, Matt Hanson, Pat Wojtas and Kurland.

"Two questions for Roland," Kurland said on a Facebook post. "First tell me what special interests you are referring to? Since I don't know, I would appreciate your telling me. Second, when have I ever refused to communicate with you? It may advance your candidacy but it doesn't advance the best interests of Chelmsford to make irresponsible (in my opinion) comments such as those."

LITTLETON'S TENTATIVE agreement with Omni Properties, a Concord-based developer for the proposed 190-unit affordable apartment complex off Great Road, could generate as much as $1.2 million in municipal revenue in exchange for sewer easement over public roads. But, the majority of the Planning Board doesn't like what it sees.

Board member Gerald Portante, for one, said the easement is something that Omni is asking for, not the town, and that there is "value" in it. "I don't think the agreement provides the value," Portante said during the board meeting on Thursday night.

MAYBE IT was overshadowed by the recent announcement of Oscar nominees, but if you missed it, the Massachusetts Municipal Association picked winners in its Annual Town Report Contest. For the eighth time in nine years, Wilmington came away with distinguished honors for its report and accompanying municipal calendar (January 2013 kicks off the new year with a shot of a shimmering Silver Lake sunrise). Town Manager Jeff Hull credits the dynasty-cementing win to his administrative assistant Beverly Dalton, the documents' creator.

Contributing to the Column this week: Enterprise Editor Christopher Scott, Lyle Moran in Lowell, Lisa Redmond in the courts, Hiroko Sato in Littleton and Grant Welker in Chelmsford.

Welcome to your discussion forum: Sign in with a Disqus account or your social networking account for your comment to be posted immediately, provided it meets the guidelines. (READ HOW.)
Comments made here are the sole responsibility of the person posting them; these comments do not reflect the opinion of The Sun. So keep it civil.